More than 40 protesters arrested during rally at Brayton Point plant

About 44 protesters were arrested for trespassing onto the Brayton Point Power Station site as they marched, while holding handmade signs, and chanted with more than 300 others late Sunday morning in the shadow of the plant’s two cooling towers. Protesters wearing red shirts tore down the yellow ...

About 44 protesters were arrested for trespassing onto the Brayton Point Power Station site as they marched, while holding handmade signs, and chanted with more than 300 others late Sunday morning in the shadow of the plant’s two cooling towers.

Protesters wearing red shirts tore down the yellow police tape that cordoned off the property, held hands as they crossed the line and submitted to arrest.

They were greeted by a line of more than 30 local and state police officers.

The protests and march began with a rally down the road at the Edward O’Neill Memorial Playground shortly after 9 a.m. After the arrests were made, the crowd obediently dispersed from the scene.

Protesters chanted, sang and cheered on speakers who urged state leaders to shut down the coal-fired plant they described as an environmental menace. Speakers said it is the largest coal- and fossil-fuel-burning plant in New England and one of the largest in the Northeast.

“This eyesore — it’s been around for 50 years,” said Peter Knowlton, president of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Northeast Region in New Bedford.

He likened the plant’s impact on the local environment to “the ring around the bath tub.”

“But when you work in a suite on the top floor, you’re not exposed to what’s happening on the ground,” Knowlton said.

West Virginia resident Chuck Nelson, of the Keepers of the Mountains Foundation, said the coal industry “owns" our state.

“They own our politicians, and they violate a lot of laws,” Nelson said, decrying the impact on small communities in his state of harvesting coal by blasting mountaintops and mining for it miles below the Earth’s surface."

Most of the protesters were bused in from outside the SouthCoast.

Many held up handmade banners decrying coal: “Coalmaggedon,” “Governor Patrick: Quit Coal!,” “No More Coal, No New Gas” and “Climate Crisis is Now.”

Speakers condemned the plant’s continued operation and advocated for what they called “a just transition toward renewable energy.”

“This community knows how to transition from one set of jobs to another,” Knowlton said.

Participants said efforts to reduce the plant’s carbon emissions have done little to mitigate pollution, and a gas-fired plant would not be any better than its current coal and oil operation.

They pointed to hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — to extract natural gas as posing unacceptable threats to air and water quality.

The same protesters who would later be arrested during their march carried scaled-down models of wind turbines to demonstrate their advocacy for more renewable energy.

They chanted as they marched, “No coal, no way, shut down Brayton Point today.”

“I’ve been arrested before,” said Rachel Wyon of Cambridge, as she crossed the line, awaiting arrest.

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However, it did not appear that the protests squared too well with local residents who gathered on lawns along the march route and sat in idling vehicles on side streets while waiting for the protesters to finish their demonstration.

Some said the increased security presence would mean a tax increase.

“All I see is dollar signs right now,” said Somerset resident Allison Viana. “Our taxes are going up.

“I think it’s a lousy two-hour demonstration, and Somerset’s footing the bill. All of this manpower, what if there had been a real emergency?”

“They don’t belong down here,” said Somerset resident Shawn Geary, as he sat in his idling minivan with his wife. “We deal with the power plant. If they close it, our taxes will go through the roof.”

The protest was part of a two-week-long movement called “Summer Heat,” organized by the advocacy group 350.org and its regional allies.

Sunday morning’s protests followed similar events in Oregon, Maine, Michigan and Washington, D.C., according to a 350.org press release.

The Herald News previously reported that the Somerset Police Department had purchased $30,000 worth of anti-riot gear to equip its department “for the worst.”

It proved unnecessary.

“We had about 100 police officers. We were prepared for the worst,” Somerset police Chief Joseph Ferreira said. “No Somerset people were arrested. Most were from other states and other parts of Massachusetts."

Of those who were arrested, Ferreira said, “some did say they have records."

"They go to these protests looking to get arrested,” Ferreira said.

The apprehended protesters were transported and later processed at the Dwelly Street Armory in Fall River, where they appeared before a magistrate.

According to Somerset Police Lt. Armand Cabral, those protesters have been released and will have to appear in Fall River District Court later on this week to be formally arraigned on trespassing charges.

They are scheduled to appear Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in small groups — between 10 to 15 at a time — so as not to bog down the court, Cabral said.

The power plant’s owner, Dominion Energy, based in Virginia, is still in the process of finalizing a purchase and sales agreement with buyer Energy Capital Partners.

According to Dominion spokesman Richard Zuecher, a sale has not closed yet because the two entities are waiting to hear from the federal energy regulating commission.

Zuecher said the company was aware of the protests and had issued a statement: “The Brayton Point Power Station, which is capable of providing energy to 1.6 million people, is one of the cleanest of its kind. It’s in compliance with energy regulation."

Zuecher said the company has invested more than $1 billion to reduce carbon emissions and said “facilities such as Brayton Point are badly needed in New England,” which has some of the highest energy costs in the nation.